Worst run of fixtures ever?

Pogue Mahone

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Was just having a think about how Casemiro could be eased in and struck me that we're in the middle of an insanely difficult run of fixtures.

Liverpool(H)
Southampton(A)
Leicester(A)
Arsenal(H)
City(A)
Everton(A)
Newcastle(H)
Spurs(H)
Chelsea(A)

9 game in a row with the Southampton fixture the one and only one you would expect us to win comfortably (and they've proven themselves well capable of big upsets at home under Hasselhuhtl)

Granted, Leicester/Everton have started the season in poor form but our record against them on the road has been a bit shit recently so the away games are definite banana skin to negotiate. Only won 2 of our last 8 games at Goodison/King Power.

All of which means we're playing all the favourites for the top six, plus the club most likely to break into the top six, plus two away fixtures at grounds where we have a horrible recent record .

Can anyone remember a worse run of fixtures?

Also. Total points predictions? Currently on 12 (which is pretty damn good, all things considered)
 
Yep, just last season:

Leicester (A)
Atalanta (H)
Liverpool (H)
Tottenham (A)
Atalanta (A)
Man City (H)
Watford (A)
Villareal (A)
Chelsea (A)
Arsenal (H)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Nobody likes a smart arse, heapy :nono:

We've won 1 in 4 against them at the King Power over the last four seasons before this one.
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I completely misread the post mate, was hoping i'd deleted in time :lol:
 
Everton actually look decent as well. The next 4 are rough
 
Not really. These kind of runs are common in PL now. They happen almost every season. You have 6 big teams and a lot of other good midtable ones, you're bound to have a difficult run.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Also. Total points predictions? Currently on 12 (which is pretty damn good, all things considered)
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5 pts from next 4 in my opinion.

Everton - 0 pts
Newcastle - 3 pts
Spurs - 1 pt
Chelsea - 0 pts.
 
On the flip side, I think Arsenal's fixture schedule this season is the kindest I've ever seen and lasts all season. One big/really tough game every 6 or 7 games. Helps that City fixture was postponed for them.
 
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ten hag must have been pissed off with the past couple of performances if he’s making us replay half our games again.
 
Diffcult to see a win in the next 4 with how poorly we're playing, but then we won 4 playing pretty much the same.
 
After this there'll be a decent run of games that should in theory be easier, but I don't think you can honestly say this team is a banker to take 3 points off anyone right now.
 
el3mel said:
Not really. These kind of runs are common in PL now. They happen almost every season. You have 6 big teams and a lot of other good midtable ones, you're bound to have a difficult run.
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Part of the issue with becoming a bit shite is that any run of fixtures that doesn't have a bunch of home games against relegation fodder, looks extremely tricky.

For a United side of the Fergie era all of those fixtures except the City game you'd expect to win, albeit accounting for the odd slip up.
 
It’s a difficult run - Liverpool, Arsenal, and City in your first 8 league games always is. I just hope we continue to pick up points against the non big 6. Also makes sense to reserve judgement on EtH at the WC break.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Liverpool(H)
Southampton(A)
Leicester(A)
Arsenal(H)
City(A)
Everton(A)
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15 points from those fixtures is a fantastic return. I don’t see any other manager we’ve had post Fergie getting that.
 
We are doing okay considering the fixture list. I think the manager will be reasonably okay with it, especially after the clown shows in the first couple of games. He doesn't seem the guy to be ecstatic about our current placing but I think he'll be okay with how it's going.
 
After the Brentford debacle if you'd been told we'd get 15/18 points from these last 6 games you'd have been delighted.

Newcastle, Spurs and then Chelsea away in the next 3 really does make it a tough start to the season.
 
MUFC OK said:
On the flip side, I think Arsenal's fixture schedule this season is the kindest I've ever seen and lasts all season. One big/really tough game every 6 or 7 games. Helps that City fixture was postponed for them.
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Isn't it just

There's a certain amount of psychology when a team's player well that all their games on paper look easy but seriously every game for them at the moment looks fortuitous. Even the last two, completely different proposition playing Spurs and Liverpool away as oppose to at home and who do they have next week? Leeds, another easy 3 points
 
We've certainly had a tough start though

Brighton (h) - no excuses should have won
Brentford (a) - not great timing going to their ground as the first oppos of the season
Liverpool (h) - obviously a tough game
Southampton (a) - tough away game, they normally get at least 1 big win against a top 6 side at home a season
Leicester (a) - along with Brighton probably the only ideal fixture we've had so far
Arsenal (h) - annoyingly ever since Wenger has gone victories against these have been hard to come by and obviously they were/are in good form
City (a) - just feck off having to play them at the moment, with Haaland in the form he's in
Everton (a) - bit like Southampton always a tough away game

We've obviously had 2 games postponed, Palace away would have been another tough one while Leeds at home would have been up there as our easiest game so far. New look Newcastle, Conte's Spurs and then Chelsea away our next 3 so far from what should be a guaranteed 9 points

Of course to have the points on the board from this tough start is a massive plus, 5 points better off than last season so far
 
MUFC OK said:
On the flip side, I think Arsenal's fixture schedule this season is the kindest I've ever seen and lasts all season. One big/really tough game every 6 or 7 games. Helps that City fixture was postponed for them.
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What?

In an evenly distributed fixture list, you're due to play one of the other top 6 teams every 4th game. Arsenal have played 3 of the top 6 already after just 9 games so they've played more big games than they should have by this point? There's been nothing abnormally easy about Arsenal's run so far. Sure 2 out of 3 of those big games were at home, but that also applies to United.

Due to the cancelled fixtures, we're due to play all of the top 6 in our 11th game which is very difficult to be fair, but it does leave us with a higher concentration of "easier" games for the rest of the season.
 
MUFC OK said:
On the flip side, I think Arsenal's fixture schedule this season is the kindest I've ever seen and lasts all season. One big/really tough game every 6 or 7 games. Helps that City fixture was postponed for them.
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Yeah despite their red hot form right now they wouldn't have been able to handle that robot
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
After the Brentford debacle if you'd been told we'd get 15/18 points from these last 6 games you'd have been delighted.

Newcastle, Spurs and then Chelsea away in the next 3 really does make it a tough start to the season.
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Would say we should really be on 18 points with defeats to Arsenal & City, shouldn't be losing to Brighton & Brentford

Looking forward to next 3 games we have to take at least 5 points to stay within touching distance of top 4. So break it down as

Newcastle - 3
Spurs - 1
Chelsea - 1

Ideally we need to beat Spurs too but with Son,Kane & Richarlison they are capable of taking a point.
 
croadyman said:
Would say we should really be on 18 points with defeats to Arsenal & City, shouldn't be losing to Brighton & Brentford

Looking forward to next 3 games we have to take at least 5 points to stay within touching distance of top 4. So break it down as

Newcastle - 3
Spurs - 1
Chelsea - 1

Ideally we need to beat Spurs too but with Son,Kane & Richarlison they are capable of taking a point.
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I meant after the Brighton and Brentford games. The six games after that

Liverpool
Southampton away
Leicester away
Arsenal
City away
Everton away

To get 15/18 from that after how bad we looked in the first 2 games of the season is pretty good I think.
 
https://footylabs.com/premierleague-fantasy/schedule-difficulty.html

If you set the range from matchday 1 to 10 (current), we've had the second most difficult set of fixtures in the league (behind Palace). Extend it to 13 to include games up until Chelsea and it's still the second most difficult.

Do it from 14 to 19 and it's the easiest in the league. Here's hoping we finish the first half strong and solidify our top 4 hopes.
 
Battle of the Brunos next. Ronaldo does like a hattrick against the barcodes
 
He's one of the best paid players in the world and maybe best ever in his position and is in his prime, he has already been eased in, we don't need to put up wierd excuses about him needing all this easing in
 
noodlehair said:
Part of the issue with becoming a bit shite is that any run of fixtures that doesn't have a bunch of home games against relegation fodder, looks extremely tricky.

For a United side of the Fergie era all of those fixtures except the City game you'd expect to win, albeit accounting for the odd slip up.
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I was just thinking this. I bet you can find these fixtures way back in the early 2000s and nobody would bat an eyelid at it.
 
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